Another reason to have Boeing build tanker

In ruling that Airbus received illegal government subsidies for its A380 superjumbo jet and other airplanes, the World Trade Organization didn't settle the long-running dispute between Europe's Airbus and America's Boeing. But Boeing and its congressional defenders, including the Kansas delegation, got a global acknowledgment that the "launch aid" that European governments provided for the A380 was illegal and that the rivals haven't been competing on an even playing field. Though complicated enough that both sides see vindication in it, the ruling certainly should give Pentagon officials more to think about as Boeing and Airbus approach a new round of bidding on an Air Force air-refueling tanker contract. As Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, said in a statement, the report "raises new questions of whether the Department of Defense should bid out national security contracts to a foreign entity entangled in illegal subsidy dealings."